On March 29, online audio platform Himalaya submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is the second time they have submitted a form to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since their first application on 13 September 2021. His first application expired on March 14 this year.
Himalaya's road to listing was slightly tortuous, and they had also submitted a listing prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30, 2021, but in the end, they did not make the trip, and withdrew their application to list in the United States in September 2021.
According to The latest prospectus of Himalaya, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, they achieved revenue of 2.6975 billion yuan, 4.0761 billion yuan and 5.8567 billion yuan. Gross profit for the same period was MOP1.2 billion, RMB2,003.1 million and MOP3,162.7 million, respectively.
Losses in the past three years were 1,924.8 million yuan, 2,882.1 million yuan and 5,106 million yuan, respectively, plus the loss they had previously disclosed in 2018 was 3.142 billion yuan, and the total net loss in the four years was 13,054.5 million yuan.
From 2019 to 2021, Himalaya's adjusted year losses were $748.6 million, $539.4 million and $759.2 million, respectively.
Himalaya's business model
According to the research institute, in terms of online audio revenue in 2021, Himalaya's market share in China's online audio industry is 28%.
At present, Himalaya has four types of business revenue, namely subscription, advertising, live broadcasting, and other innovative products and services.
Among them, the proportion of subscription revenue has exceeded 50% in 2021, reaching 51.1%. Its advertising revenue accounted for 25.4% of total revenue in 2021. The share of live streaming service revenue has declined in the past three years, from 22.9% in 2019 to 17.1% in 2021.
As of December 31, 2021, Himalaya has more than 339 million audio content, corresponding to a total content length of approximately 2.4 billion minutes, covering a wide range of 101 categories. The Himalaya platform has 4.4 million active content creators in 2021.
In 2021, the average monthly active paying users on the mobile side of their platform reached 14.9 million, an increase of 48.1% over 2020, and the average monthly active user payment rate of the mobile terminal of the platform was about 12.9%.
Yu Jianjun
Founded in 2012 by Yu Jianjun, Himalaya graduated from Xi'an Jiaotong University with a master's degree in mechanics. In 2006, he founded the world's first Street View map City8, which was later acquired by Baidu. Yu jianjun currently serves as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Himalaya.
Since its establishment, Himalaya has received investment from SIG Heiner Asia, Xiaomi Technology, Yuwen Group, Tencent Investment, Goldman Sachs and other institutions. The most recent funding was in series E in 2018, when its post-investment valuation was as high as 24 billion yuan.
As of the IPO, Himalaya CEO Yu Jianjun held 13.38%; co-founder Chen Yuxin held 13.26%; investor Xiong Mingwang held 10.6%; Trustbridge held 7.38%; and other investors and shareholders held 55.38%.